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Unreasonable Expectations,
Risk Assignments,
& Latent Holes in our Swiss Cheese (or... I smell some rats)
Misery Whip
From TheySaid, 1/20/06
vfd cap’n,
I am usually more or less on the same page as you in respect to your
opinions on this site. But I have to respond to this statement from your
1/7 post. In reference to the bird flu discussion, you said,
“However, if any firefighter is really making those
kind of plans, I suggest they make application to the New Orleans
Police Department. I hear they are hiring now, and one could live up
to a not-so-fine tradition of public service until a crisis comes.”
I respect that you are a volunteer firefighter and
probably make a huge personal commitment to your profession. Our country
would be in deep trouble without the thousands of volunteer firefighters
and EMTs who respond to millions of emergencies every year.
Unlike yourself, I work for the US Forest Service and consider myself a
wildland fire professional. Aside from incidental skirmishes with
structure fires, vehicle fires and hazmat during my career, there is
nothing in my job description or training that indicates I am committed
to respond to anything other than wildland fires. Over the years, I have
taken more risks and been injured more times than I can count in my
chosen profession. I have permanent physical injuries that will affect
me until the day I die. I am certain that the many days I have spent on
wildfires & prescribed burns sucking smoke will likely shorten my
natural life span.
I was mostly aware of the risks when I started in this business. I’ve
been a faller and aviator most of my career. I chose to accept those
risks, and still choose to accept those risks.
But I never agreed to respond to a flu pandemic, or a biological,
chemical, or nuclear terrorist incident. Nowhere in my job description
does it mention anything besides wildland fire. Under the present
circumstances, working under a short-sighted administration that is
hostile to government agencies, when programs, people and training are
being cut left and right because of budget shortfalls, I see no reason
why I should further risk my own health or that of my family & friends
by performing in a capacity for which I have not been trained and have
no interest.
I am offended by your suggestion that I am a fair-weather friend or
coward if I choose not to answer the call for a crisis that I am not
trained for. I don’t have to prove my courage to you or anyone else. I
consider it foolish to take unnecessary risks. Until my agency decides
to make it part of my job description, and to pay, train and equip me
appropriately for these “other missions”, I feel no inclination to take
unnecessary risks.
I spent a couple of weeks in SE Texas after Hurricane Rita, altogether
it was one of the most hazardous and worst experiences of my career. It
was dispiriting to see firsthand just how ill prepared our country is to
deal with a large natural disaster, an event that you could reasonably
expect to happen on a regular basis. I can’t imagine the level of
confusion that would ensue after a biological, chemical, or nuclear
terrorist incident. Or a bird flu pandemic.
I applaud the courage of anyone who plans to respond to incidents
regardless of the nature of the incident. But I don’t think it helps to
demonize wildland firefighters who are righteously concerned about being
assimilated into all-risk operations under the present circumstances.
Abs & y’all,
I didn’t see the Discovery show, so I can’t comment on the content. I
find it amusing, and a little sad, that some of our comrades are getting
bent out of shape about some nickel dime PPE stuff, yet very few people
seem to notice that our federal land management agencies have been
gutted and hijacked by corporate lobbyists and anti-government
ideologues. In my book, that is a far greater safety issue than a couple
of jumpers with their sleeves rolled up. I'm talking about a latent
failure of an entire defensive layer of the Swiss cheese model.
From the earliest days of Bush’s presidency, when Cheney invited former
Enron CEO “Kenny Boy” Lay & other energy executives to help craft our
country’s energy policy in secret meetings, this administration has
displayed an alarming propensity for placing lobbyists and like-minded
political ideologues in key government oversight positions. For the past
five years, they have been busier than rabid badgers trying to roll back
progress on decades of hard fought land management issues. The foxes are
running the henhouse, and they aren’t finished yet.
Since taking office, the Bush administration has irrevocably altered,
and continues to aggressively reduce, the Forest Service and DOI land
management agencies. Like many other career government employees, I am
dismayed with the way this administration has systematically set out to
declaw and enfeeble our land management agencies, and to install their
own version of “good land management”.
The latest “Green Plan” update came out this week. This administration
has a real knack for naming their pet projects the opposite of what they
really are. The Forest Service is now planning to increase the number of
positions to be studied for outsourcing (Competitive Sourcing is another
Bush misnomer I refuse to use) from 6,180 to 21, 220!!!
By my math, that is an additional 15,040 FTE employees! Excluding
positions already outsourced or under study for outsourcing, this is
most of the remainder of the Forest Service! That includes firefighters,
aviators, & apparently anyone else who is not a Contracting Officer. We
are going to need lots of COs if these people get their way. They should
rename this disaster the Black Plan.
I am delighted to see that some light is finally being shed on this
travesty. Oddly enough, we have Jack Abramoff, the king lobbyist and
swindler turned informant, to thank for this. It has been fascinating
watching the Abramoff scandal unfurl over the past few months. It
reminds me a lot of the early days of Watergate. This man & his cronies
reinvented the fine art of lobbying to the point where he and his
favored friends had unprecedented access and input into the operation of
our government. We are going to discover many ugly facts before this
sorry episode comes to a conclusion.
If you think these issues don’t affect you, you’re not paying attention.
Do a Google search using Abramoff’s name and you will find some other
very interesting names. Google some of these names and you come up with
some more interesting connections. Try it, its fun. Here are a few to
get you started.
Jack Abramoff: Once influential Republican advisor and lobbyist. Was a
member of Bush’s Presidential Transition Team in 2001, advising the
administration on policy and hiring at the Interior Department, which
oversees Native American issues. Abramoff recently plead guilty to
defrauding Native American tribes out of millions of dollars and is
cooperating with prosecutors for a reduced sentence. More to come.
Karl Rove: Also known as Bush’s brain. If you don’t know who this is,
you are asleep.
Grover Norquist: Good friend of Karl Rove & frequent presidential
advisor. Also good friends with Jack Abramoff. Sometimes known as the
Field Marshal for the Bush Plan. Famous Grover Norquist quote: “My goal
is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the
size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”
Tom Delay: Former all-powerful Speaker of the House. Good friends with
Jack Abramoff.
Susan Ralston: Former top aide to Jack Abramoff. Current top aide to
Karl Rove.
Michael Scanlon: Former top aide to Tom Delay who became partner of Jack
Abramoff. Recently plead guilty to federal conspiracy charges in
relation to Abramoff scandal.
Steven Griles: former Deputy Secretary of the Interior appointed by
Bush. Resigned from that position last year, is now under investigation
for connections to Jack Abramoff related to improper influence of tribal
gambling issues.
See how this works? Lobbyist to aide, aide to lobbyist, lobbyist to
campaign manager, lobbyist to government advisor, lobbyist to government
agency oversight. It’s all the same thing isn’t it? Just one big, happy
family.
It is sort of like waking up one day and finding that the Hell’s Angels
have taken over the government. These people don’t want to govern, they
want to get rid of government, especially the kind that prevents their
pet corporations from exploiting our natural resources at will.
I despise this mentality held by the present administration, and
supported by the present congressional majority, who seem to think that
it’s a good idea to manage our nation’s forests and treasured public
lands like a freaking land grab. Just for the record; forests are not a
business, and, as such, should not be managed for the bottom line only
(ditto for our national parks, BLM lands, F & W lands, etc).
I’ve worked for the US Forest Service for the greater part of my adult
life, and most of the people I work with look at their job as more of a
calling than an occupation. Nobody gets rich doing this work. We do it
because of a connection and dedication to each other and the land. We
understand that our forests and public lands really are national
treasures, and that they should be administered in ways that will allow
future generations to enjoy and benefit from their bounty.
Unfortunately, most civilians don’t make any distinction between
dedicated career employees who want what is best for our forests and
public lands, and appointed political hacks and former lobbyists who
oversee our agencies. The damage these political appointees have already
done, and continue to do, can never be completely repaired.
Here's a link to the Abramoff story from the
Washington Post:
Unravelling Abramoff
I'm looking forward to seeing what else surfaces from the Abramoff
investigation. The rats are beginning to turn on each other, and I
intend to savor every sordid detail that emerges in the coming months.
Misery Whip
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